Group of Orchards residents argue against zoning change

The Lewiston City Council is backing away from a requested zone change at the top of Gun Club Road until it knows more about what the owners plan to do with the land.

The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission recommended that the council annex the land and change it from a residential zone to the most permissive commercial zone. But neighbors who live in the area — including one whose family has farmed the area for more than a century — strongly opposed the change at the commission’s meeting last month. They turned out again at this week’s city council meeting to urge that the request be denied.

“We do not want the city of Lewiston to allow spot zoning in a neighborhood that my family has worked hard to maintain for the benefit of the community for 104 years,” said Coco Umiker, owner of Clearwater Canyon Cellars, a winery just south of the subject property.

The land consists of about 12 acres, but an engineer who represented the owners at a public hearing Monday said only 2½ to 3 acres are flat enough to develop. The company that owns the property, 4 Renegades LLC of Moscow, is owned by Dewey Whiting, Wesley Carscallen, Marc Lohman and Jesse Weigley, according to the Idaho Secretary of State business registry. Whiting owns Auto Body Super Centers in Moscow and Lewiston, and residents feared he wants to build a new shop on the site.

But the engineer, Scott Becker of Hodge and Associates in Moscow, said the owners haven’t indicated their intentions. Becker said the company asked for the C4 commercial zone because it has the broadest list of allowable uses. And he said the land sits lower than the surrounding properties.

“It’s not an area that would infringe on anybody’s views or how it would look in the neighborhood,” Becker told the council.

City Planner Joel Plaskon said uses that are allowed outright in the C4 zone include auto sales and repair; retail stores; hotels; day care centers; banks; professional offices; restaurants; nurseries; churches; RV parks; self-service storage facilities; veterinary clinics; and dog kennels.

Umiker’s husband, Karl Umiker, also testified in opposition to the zone change request at the public hearing, and she read a letter in opposition from her mother, Mary Nichols McQuary. Several other nearby residents voiced their opposition too, including Larry Steffensmeier, who worried the change would set a dangerous precedent.

“We have a very nice community right next to it, and we all know as soon as there’s one changed as commercial, the rest of it is a domino effect,” he said.

Gary Kazda read from the city’s comprehensive plan, which designates the area as a “neotraditional” neighborhood that should include homes, walking paths and environmentally friendly businesses. He brought a petition opposing the zone change to the meeting with 239 signatures, and said an auto body shop would pollute the nearby drainage with leaking oil, battery acid and gasoline that would flow downhill to Lindsay Creek.

“Lindsay Creek has enough problems already,” Kazda said, noting the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has designated the creek as one of the most polluted waterways in the state.

And Tracy Kingsley said any development would block the views from her home, which sits at the intersection of 10th Street and Stewart Avenue, directly across from the site. Kingsley also noted the availability of several vacant commercial buildings on nearby Thain Road that would be more appropriate.

Several city councilors were skeptical of the zone change request. Only Bob Blakey expressed support, noting that the city is frequently criticized for being “anti-business.”

Ultimately, the council approved the first reading of an ordinance to annex the property, but tabled the first reading of an ordinance to change the zone to C4 so city staff can talk to the owners and see if they would accept a more restrictive zoning designation. Ordinances require the approval of three readings before the council before they can be considered for final adoption.

Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.